American, 1829 - 1875
Joseph Oriel Eaton received his early education in Ohio. In 1845 or 1846 he entered the studio of Jacob Cox in Indianapolis. After less than a year of working under Cox, he moved on to Cincinnati and, at the precocious age of seventeen, established a professional practice. In 1875 an anonymous writer in the New York Evening Post, recalling Eaton's history, described his success:
[block quote:]
[In Cincinnati] he soon gained many friends and took a prominent position as a portrait painter. In those days there was very little feeling for art in the West; Mr. Eaton was among the first to idealize portrait painting there, and make something more than a hard representation of features. It was at this time that he began his career as a painter of "Genre pictures," in which he has since been so successful. His wonderfully quick eye for effects and great manual dexterity, made it easy for him to accomplish with rapidity and certainty whatever he undertook.
[end of block quote]
Eaton was first represented in an Academy exhibition in 1853, and he showed in the annuals of 1857, 1859, and 1860, sending work from Cincinnati in all those years. He took up residence in New York in 1864 and showed in that year's annual and every annual thereafter until his death. There is no record of his having exhibited anywhere between the Academy annuals of 1860 and 1864, suggesting that his active pursuit of his career may have been interrupted, or at least impeded, by the Civil War. He is known to have visited Europe but not until 1873.
The staple of Eaton's career was his work as a portraitist, and within that area his renderings of children were especially well regarded. However, he also produced many subject pictures on themes from literature, mythology, and a romantic imagination-the "Genre pictures" referred to by the Evening Post. Among recorded titles are: King Lear, A Moral Lesson, Lady Godiva, Venus and Cupid, The Lovers' Quarrel. Apparently these did not enjoy as much favor as his portraits; a substantial number were included in the estate auction of Eaton's own works and his sizable collection of paintings by his contemporaries.
The Academy's memorial to Eaton, while admiring of his character, was equivocal in summarizing his art:
[block quote]
Mr. Eaton commenced his studies in the interior of Ohio with no very propitious surroundings. Even from his earliest beginnings he was an enthusiast. His works may fall short of entirely satisfying us but there was an earnest striving in them for truth united with Art, the aim of the best and the consumation [sic] of only the greatest.
[end of block quote]
[block quote:]
[In Cincinnati] he soon gained many friends and took a prominent position as a portrait painter. In those days there was very little feeling for art in the West; Mr. Eaton was among the first to idealize portrait painting there, and make something more than a hard representation of features. It was at this time that he began his career as a painter of "Genre pictures," in which he has since been so successful. His wonderfully quick eye for effects and great manual dexterity, made it easy for him to accomplish with rapidity and certainty whatever he undertook.
[end of block quote]
Eaton was first represented in an Academy exhibition in 1853, and he showed in the annuals of 1857, 1859, and 1860, sending work from Cincinnati in all those years. He took up residence in New York in 1864 and showed in that year's annual and every annual thereafter until his death. There is no record of his having exhibited anywhere between the Academy annuals of 1860 and 1864, suggesting that his active pursuit of his career may have been interrupted, or at least impeded, by the Civil War. He is known to have visited Europe but not until 1873.
The staple of Eaton's career was his work as a portraitist, and within that area his renderings of children were especially well regarded. However, he also produced many subject pictures on themes from literature, mythology, and a romantic imagination-the "Genre pictures" referred to by the Evening Post. Among recorded titles are: King Lear, A Moral Lesson, Lady Godiva, Venus and Cupid, The Lovers' Quarrel. Apparently these did not enjoy as much favor as his portraits; a substantial number were included in the estate auction of Eaton's own works and his sizable collection of paintings by his contemporaries.
The Academy's memorial to Eaton, while admiring of his character, was equivocal in summarizing his art:
[block quote]
Mr. Eaton commenced his studies in the interior of Ohio with no very propitious surroundings. Even from his earliest beginnings he was an enthusiast. His works may fall short of entirely satisfying us but there was an earnest striving in them for truth united with Art, the aim of the best and the consumation [sic] of only the greatest.
[end of block quote]
